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Business Ethics, Paying Your Bills, and Being Fit to Lead

BEH is about business ethics, not ethics in politics, but the story below is about the ostensibly unethical conduct of a businessman who happens to want to be president of the United States. Two distinct types of questions arise. First, is the type of tactic described below utterly unethical, a mild form of bullying, or just tough-minded business? (Relatedly: is keeping your promises one of the fundamental rules of the game in business?) Second, does assessment of someone’s (un)ethical behaviour in one domain (in this case, business) relevant to predicting their likely behaviour in another (in this case, politics)? >>>

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been sued at least 60 times by individuals and businesses who accuse him of failing to pay for work done at his various properties, according to two published reports.

USA Today also reported, citing data from the Department of Labor, that two of Trump’s now-defunct businesses were cited 24 times beginning in 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage.
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“Part of how he did business as a philosophy was to negotiate the best price he could,” [former Trump employee Jack] O’Connell said. “And then when it came time to pay the bills,” Trump would say “‘I’m going to pay you but I’m going to pay you 75% of what we agreed to.'”…